The laboratory consists of the following sections-research interests (leaders):
I. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) (P. I. Sidiropoulos, MD, Associate Professor). Investigation of the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritides (rheumatoid arthritis) with a special focus on innate immunity pathways [Neutrophil exracellular traps (NETs), inflammasome-associated pathways, dendritic cells]. We also investigate the effects of biologic therapies in disease biology, restoration of immune tolerance, and try to characterize biomarkers of clinical responses.
II. Systemic Autoimmunity-Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. (G Bertsias MD, PhD, Assistant Professor). Role of peripheral T cell tolerance in the pathogenesis of SLE. The role of the innate immunity and bone marrow micro-environment in promoting lymphocyte hyperactivity in SLE
III. Gene expression and regulation in autoimmunity/autoinflammation (G Bertsias MD, PhD, Assistant Professor). The role of genetic variation and epigenetics in gene expression in human and animal models of autoimmunity.
IV. The Clinical Research Unit (P Sidiropoulos, G Bertsias, A Repa, N Avgoustidis)